1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an internal combustion and internally cooled steam engine and powering method to be used as a fuel efficient and environmentally friendly means of powering steam turbines and like drive assemblies.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A commonly sought after goal of engine powering systems is to maximize the amount of work that can be performed by a minimal amount of fuel. Additionally, it is desirous to minimize pollutants generated by these engines. For these reasons, others in the past have attempted to develop hybrid engines that combine fuel combustion and steam powering. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,353 to Ridgway, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,464 to Hansen, complex systems were developed to combine fuel combustion and steam powering. These engines however, include separate steam generating and fuel combusting operations, and combine their finished product to power the system. Other systems as that of Hallstrom, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,433,548, utilize extra energy from a first operation to provide energy for a second power stroke, thereby providing two strokes of average power. Finally, engines such as those devised by Thomas, U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,447 and Thomas, U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,963, inject water into individual heated power cylinders which serve as a steam boiler which provide steam for the power stroke. None of these designs, however, provide a singularly contained unit which through a single combustion process heats separately contained fuel and water, and combines the formed steam and the heated gasses formed by the fuel combustion to provide a single high-powered, easily filtered means of driving a turbine.
Applicant's invention is devised specifically to utilize a single efficient process which combines all the by-products gasses of fuel combustion, most of which would normally be wasted in ordinary combustion processes, with the steam produced from the same initial combustion of fuel and air, and thereby provide an easily filtered super heated means of powering a turbine.